Why do horses get coats and cows don't?

[noblegiraffe]

Today I was driving in the pouring rain past a horse field, and they were all, bar one, wearing coats. Then there was a cow field, obviously no coats.

Which led me to wonder why some animals get coats and others don't. Who decided that horses need coats, and why? Was the coatless horse just like a cool teen who will not wear a coat however much you tell them to, or a rock-hard horse who doesn't actually need one?

Why do some dogs get coats and others not? Did they try to sell coats for cats but cats said no way?

Do other animals get coats?

I deliberately bought a white rug with multicoloured Pegasus on it purely to piss off the other owners on the posh livery yard I was on. They all had plain rugs so I thought I'd be different!

I've only skimmed the thread but cows, in common with a lot of animals (horses, dogs etc) grow a thicker coat as the weather gets cooler. Our dairy cows are already noticeably hairier. They will shed this coat next spring and be sleek and shiny in the summer. They are housed in winter but it's only a shed with a roof - still relatively chilly and they probably grow less coat than if they were completely outdoors. Fun fact, in winter they have hairy udders too!

As someone has said, horses are clipped to stop them sweating when ridden, although we never clipped our hairy ponies and didn't ride much in winter.

Cows are clipped during winter depending on what type of shed they are housed in. Ours are on slats (pee and poop falls through the floor to be collected beneath, making slurry) and there are quite a lot in a small space, so we clip their backs to stop them sweating.
My horse was fully clipped as he was imported from a much warmer climate and was bare, except legs when I got him. He was rugged to the bollocks. He never really grew a thick coat due to his breed, so continued to be rugged to the bollocks in subsequent winters.

Ooh, I like that one. I love a snazzy rug.

All mine are snazzy. I bought my OAP one with rainbows and unicorns all over it. She always looked mildly embarrassed in it.

Tbh, they all end up plastered in mud within about 2 minutes of being put on they might as well
just come in brown

@noblegiraffe I am curious how they got those jumpers on them.
They look very snazzy though.

The New Forest ponies are left out all year and they are sleek in summer and get all shaggy and hairy in winter. When they shed the extra hair in spring it must be really itchy as they seem to spend half their time rubbing themselves against any tree, fence or car they can find and the whole place is covered in pony fluff.

No, cows are brought in because they'd turn the fields into quagmires in the winter.

@noblegiraffe with your name I did another search. I do wonder if we should have animals in zoos at all and particularly in completely different climates. The giraffes in some American zoos are in all winter. There was one coat though

My mum (jokingly) tells me off if I call them horse coats 😂 She just says 'They're called New Zealand rugs!' I mostly do it to make her say it now 😂

Noblegiraffe, this a very lighthearted thread, for you. Are you, perchance, starting a two week half term and have hit the pinot grigio? 😀

I'd never call them New Zealand rugs... To me, NZ rugs are what we used back in the 70s - canvas, heavy when wet, and very outdated. Don't think I've heard the phrase used in years.

A lot of non-horsey people call them blankets, but they're not blankets either.

They're just "rugs".

I have two dogs, a cat and Dd has a horse.

One dog is a golden retriever, he doesn't need a coat and water just runs off him. Second dog is a white Maltichon he has a coat because he is small and gets cold very quickly.

The cat said ...you don't tell me what to do I tell you!

The horse sometimes will wear two coats. He is a thoroughbred and he is very lean and muscular. He isn't left out in the field overnight even in summer.

@DuesToTheDirt That scans! Mum last worked with horses in the 70s 😂

Haha god I wish, one week to go. Definitely reached the point of term where I need stories of cows in jumpers rather than another thread about school funding. 🍷

You have to get them to lie down and smooge their face (both sides, mind) in a puddle, so their excessively long stupid eyelashes (that stick through cheap fly masks so you have to buy the expensive darted ones) glue together in muddy clumps that you’re not then allowed to remove because’OMG! DON’T TOUCH MY EYES areyoutryingtokillmewoman!’ even though he loves rubbing his face on you.

My mare sports a fabulously hairy beard in the winter. Makes me laugh as she's such a princess the rest of the year.

I only very lightly rug in bad conditions because she gains weight really easily and there are some awful conditions horses get if they're overweight. There's a bit of an epidemic currently as rugs are so well made these days and we generally pamper them too much. Horses are designed to gain weight in summer and lose it in winter, so we're causing a lot of problems by mollycoddling them in the winter, and then they can't cope with the spring grass.

Ha ha. Does she still talk about horses shying (rather than spooking) and piebalds/skewbalds rather than coloureds?

That giraffe rather looks like it could do with a scarf as well as a coat.

Which reminds me of the question about giraffes and bow ties.

Just thought I'd share my girl's "beardcicles" from last year's cold snap! The rest of her was really warm and ice free, she was all floofed up like a bird

A relatively clean day. You can see the ‘smooged in a puddle’ look here.

@DuesToTheDirt She's definitely used shying before but we've not talked about horse colours, except when mentioning greys in the Grand National.

Is this a serious thread?

Horses are rugged for our benefit - we want to ride them and therefore we try to keep them clean.

Dogs have coats for the same reason - we don’t want mud in the house.

No animals want / need rugs or coats

Did they try to sell coats for cats but cats said no way?

Dcat objects to being dried with a towel even when she's (weirdly. They don't like water?) soaking.

I think she'd have a hand off if anyone tried imposing a coat.

Native breed horses don’t really need coats (rugs) if not clipped, but maybe if the weather is particularly cold/bad it gives them extra warmth and protection. I think cows are generally kept inside barns during the winter months. However, I had horses when I was younger (many years ago) and we would only rug up when it was getting really cold, these days I drive past fields in the summer time and horses have rugs on and I think the poor things must be roasting!

This cat is waiting for it's moment of revenge....
(not my cat..... picture pinched from Google)